The present invention relates to a system and apparatus for transporting objects along an overhead beam or track, and in particular to a transport mechanism having a braking means particular suitable for the transport of punching or kick bags in a gymnasium or Dojo.
Prior methods of using an overhead transport system are well known. Typically, a rolling trolley is suspended from an overhead rail or track. The trolley includes wheel that engage the track and a brake mechanism for locking the wheels or otherwise preventing the movement of the trolley after the objected suspended therefrom has been moved to the desired location on the rail.
Such trolleys have been developed and are used for transporting industrial equipment. Other uses suggested in the literature are for transporting patients and food. It should be appreciated that while there are many ways to configure such a trolley and braking system, the development of this art has only evolved to the point to meet the needs of the particular industry and application. In particular, such a system would be expected to take into account the weight and size of the object being transported, whether machinery is used to power the trolley, the need for automation.
The current invention addresses the recently discovered and unmet need for a trolley and system adopted to the transport kick/punching bags that are used in a gymnasium or dojo.
Such kick/punching bags are suspended from above so that the can swing freely when punched or kicked. Typically, a gymnasium is used for multiple purposes. As such, it would be convenient to be able to store the kick/punching bags when not needed, but have them available with a means for rapid deployment throughout the facility, spacing them apart to safely accommodate a large number of athletes.
Overhead rail transport systems are generally capable of supporting such bags in a clustered arrangement for storage, and generally transporting them to the dispersed location for use. It has been discovered by the inventor that the state of the art such trolley and their brake and release mechanism are not suitable to support kick/punching bags that are used in a gymnasium or dojo.
In particular, there is a need for the rapid deployment and return of the bags, it is desirable that the Athletes themselves can deploy them. However, such deployment must be done safely, taking into account that the age and skill of the athletes can vary considerably, as it is unlikely that they will receive or recall the type of safety training that would be given in industrial or commercial establishments. Given that such bags frequently weight more than an adult and are going to subject to repeated impact from the athletes it is of parameter important that they do not move or slip once they are moved to the desired location.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system for conveying and supporting kick/punching bags that is particularly adapted to disperse then from a clustered arrangement for storage in a gym or Karate dojo to a different arrangement where they are accessible to the athletes.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide such a transport system wherein the kick/punching bags is readily released from a locked position on the rail.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a system wherein it is relatively easy to transport the bag along the rail.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a system where the bag will not move or come loose once it is moved.